The Pokemon series has been around for decades, and it remains incredibly popular. The Pokemon Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara, who has led the company since 1998, said in an interview that he sees no end in sight.
He told the BBC today–Pokemon Day–that if The Pokemon Company can stay disciplined and continue to release products that people enjoy, he sees no reason why the company would slow down.
“If we continue focusing on our mission, Pokemon can probably continue to its 50th or 100th anniversary,” he said. “But if we become complacent and go with the flow, that’s when Pokemon will go downhill.”
The Pokemon Company is privately held, but it regularly works with its minority investor Nintendo on all manner of projects in the gaming space, including the upcoming Switch game Pokemon Legends Z-A. The two companies also teamed up recently to sue Palworld developer Pocketpair.
Ishihara said The Pokemon Company’s strength is its sole focus on Pokemon. Whereas big-time publicly traded companies have shareholders to answer to and have businesses that stretch across numerous different brands, The Pokemon Company is, as its name states, a company all about Pokemon.
“Pokemon is the only thing we do at the Pokemon Company,” Ishihara said. “So whatever profit we make from Pokemon gets reinvested in Pokemon.”
He went on to say that he’s happy to not have public shareholders to answer to, because if he did, people might ask why the company doesn’t make non-Pokemon projects. If someone were to ask him that, Ishihara said he would reply, “‘We’ll go bust when Pokemon is no longer popular.'”
The Pokemon Company made a number of announcements during the Pokemon Presents event, including the reveal of a brand-new game: Pokemon Champions.
Pokemon Day, February 27, is the celebration of the debut of Pokemon Red/Green in Japan on February 27, 1996. As such, 2026 will mark the 30th anniversary of the Pokemon series.